Thursday, January 27, 2011

Having carved out a new space to call untitledmusic HQ this weekend I'm ready to face 2011 head on with the blog taking centre stage and with it a wave of fresh new posts, exclusive interviews and anything else that takes my fancy! The new space is sure to inspire me to do a few more posts about what you can get up to with the S4 Kontroller and maybe some on how to polish those mix recordings - who knows!

After a burst of musical activity to kick start the year things have calmed down a little, which I think has seen an increase in quality over quantity - or at least in the music available online. Having been without broadband for 5 days it's monumental how much new stuff is on it's way, so let's all take a deep breath and enjoy this weeks picks...

Thursday, January 20, 2011

It seems summer is in full effect here in the Southern Hemisphere, which for me, just make music sound so much better! Nothing quite like kicking back on the deck, listening to some fresh new tunes and a few golden oldies too!

Last week was a bit of a bonanza week for listeners to the show. UM67 topped 1,400 plays in just one week, hopefully a sign of the year ahead! meanwhile, in the real world, the industry is ramping up, no doubt ahead of the WMC with plenty of releases, not all of which are getting me excited, it has to be said! But, fear not deep house heads, there's more than enough excellence around to make choosing these five tunes a tough job!

Friday, January 14, 2011

I'm guessing most house heads of a certain age (like me) spent a significant part of the late 90's and early 00's in awe of Manchester's Paperecordings. A select few of us were lucky enough to be on their promo listing and will recall the sheer Christmas morning type excitement of receiving one of their promo's. Wrapped in a big brown bag, with the Paperecordings sticker attached, inside would be a pristine slice of vinyl, on which would almost always be the next best thing you'd heard since the last installment.

Now, like a few others Paperecordings fading into the shadows for a while there, but have been back at it for a little longer than untitledmusic and have continued to shape a sound different to the masses since, some of which has been part of my weekly shows. But, that's not the point of this post, after all, this is about that one special tune you'd want to hear if it was the last tune you might hear.

For me Paper offers so many gems to choose from, Origami, Salt City Theme, The Book and the list goes on, but one track always catches my attention when flicking through my record bags of that era for more than one reason!

The Problem Kids were Mark Wilkinson (Kidology) and Darren Rock aka Rocky (X-Press-2). They've appeared on a quality range of labels during their time; Paper, Junior Boys Own, Jus' Trax to name a few but Pump That Dirty Groove was their first album. And it was a stella line up of tracks, not to mention a appealing cover.

Back then my style was just forming if I'm honest and at times it was a case of playing much jazzier, laid back tunes that were a little easier to mix and keep a steady groove going, but Pump That Dirty Groove was one track I just wanted to play. It grabbed me like Mothership Reconnected did and still does and urged me to push the tempo up during my sets and try and slip this one in and watch it kick off.

That driving, grinding bassline, disco-tinged touches and the building arrangement still sounds so fresh today, as does so much of the great tunes from that 1999 or there abouts era! What a tune!

What's even better is you can still buy it on vinyl from those lovely fellas at Paperecordings: Buy here

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Now we're officially over the saying 'Happy New Year' phase of the year it's eyes down to business here at UM HQ. With episode 67 out there and warming up the cold winter across there in Europe with a superb line up and the new radio schedule things are looking good.

Next up is working on some new features for the blog, so keep checking back for them! Meanwhile we're soon to start feeling the effects of the WMC kicking in with EP's and special mixes all around, and whilst I'd love to be there you'll be glad to hear I'll be right here picking out the best of the tunes just for you!

This week's seen the world get back into gear with an abundance of promo's landing in my inbox and of course of the cloud, here's the one's that have had me hitting the repeat button!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

2011 is underway and already there's big news here at UM HQ! The weekly round up of the finest deep and tech house promo's will be featuring on two new internet radio stations from next week.

Deepvibes.co.uk will be the first to air the brand new mix each week. You can tune in on a Monday evening (9pm GMT) and hear those fresh new promo's before it's even uploaded to my Soundcloud page.

The other new addition to the radio schedule is Live1.fm from Brazil. They'll be playing the show on a Thursday evening (8pm Brazilian time) rounding off a week of action!

The shows on eNation.fm (Tuesday 10pm GMT) and Discothequeradio.com (Thursday 2am GMT) remain as they were, bringing the music to an even bigger global audience right from the start of 2011!

And that's not all that's new for 2011! You'll also notice I've added a new playlist to the side bar. Featuring tunes soon to be released and that are being promoted by Kahua Music. So if you're in need of inspiration for your 'wants list' look no further.

All in all, a great start to the year and with over 6,500 of you checking the blog out in December I'm working away on some exciting new interviews, profiles and features to keep you coming back for all your deep house needs!

Friday, January 7, 2011

Moody B is the man behind Belfast label Council House Recordings, a label that's built it's sound on a distinctive style and originality that is pretty unique in today's music industry. The label is run by a small collective of like minded electronic music enthusiasts who have over 15 years of experience in the music industry. Moody B brings his years of previous experience in running his own label 'Church Street Recordings' along with his production and remixing talents. His influence of Chicago style house and more harder Detroit sounds heavily influence the labels music.

With just 5 releases to date the label has grown a devoted fan based with quiet ease with names like Geist, Damolh33, Lejack and Moody B himself having featured. It's a label the press have been quick to praise with everyone from DMC update, iDJ and others tipping the label as one to make a huge impression, especially with true house believers.

It's tradition approach to house and it's fusion of Detroit and Chicago house sounds give it a real difference and have made it a regular on my own untitledmusic shows. At the close of 2010 I managed to catch up with the main himself to find out a little bit more about things...

"The Council House ethos is basically home grown producers taking things back to basics, making the music they want to make without worrying about what's in the hype charts and keeping things a bit rough and dirty around the edges. It's the old school sound being kept alive with a bit of old school gear in the home studio, along with some more modern productions in the mix.

The vision of Council House came about whilst on a short hiatus from the music industry. I was a bit tired of alot of the house music coming out at the time and I wanted to create new music but felt I needed to head in a different direction. Digging out some of my old records I began to rediscover those the great sounds of Chicago and Detroit that I once loved but nearly forgot. Completely inspired I was back in the studio experimenting with these sounds and started making the music I always wanted to make. Realising there were people interested and appreciating what I was doing we felt it was the right time to launch the label."Originally from Philadelphia, but living in Ireland - tell us about your time in the states and why the move?

"I grew up in Allentown just north of Philadelphia. It was a very industrial area known for its steel and iron. Growing up I had been involved in all sorts of musical mishaps and adventures from a few horrible punk bands to several industrial band experiments. The industrial music had triggered my interest in drum machines and synths which soon led me to the electronic genres. From the early 90's on I had started to collect dance music and messing about with samplers and drum machines.

Myself and a few local DJ's threw a few club nights and on off party's, some good, some not so good. This is when I realized I really wanted to concentrate on the production end of things and after a couple of years of learning my way around the studio and writing alot of tunes, Church Street Recordings was born and started releasing my own material. After a few solid releases things started to fall into place. I started to dj better gigs out of state in San Fran and New York and started getting offers from other labels to release for them.

After doing a record deal with Deep Freeze in Glasgow I was soon across djing at some of their events. Soon after a gig in Ireland I had decided to move my equipment over and spend some time here as well as playing gigs around Europe and I just never went back to the States! Here I am 10 years later."

How would you describe your creative process - are you a lock yourself away type or wait for inspiration?

"It's hard to say. The creativity has always been a bit unpredictable - sometimes I can pop out a track in a couple of days, at other times I have writers block for a week or two. Depending on what's going on in my life at the time can really affect my creativity. When its freezing cold like it is at the moment I really like being locked away and workin on the music. If I'm feeling creative I'll generally write alot of the melodies, synth patterns, chords and drop in the noises and effects. I'll save the drum patterns, tidying up and mixdowns for times I'm less inspired."

Detriot's sound influences your sounds - what is it about that style that grabs you?"When I was buying tons and tons of records in the 90's I came across alot of the old Detroit stuff when it wasn't as collectable and was easy to get your hands on. I bought quite a bit of it. I loved the sound but never played it much at that time as I was playing much more housey sampled disco type stuff. But as time moves on so does taste and style. As I wanted to get away from sampling a bit, I think the synthesis and programming is what has drawn me back to the Detroit Sound. I love messing about with old synths!"

How has your past experience with Church Street helped establish Council House?

"When I started `Church Street in 98 I had no real idea of how the label thing really worked. I jumped in head first and It was quite a learning experience in the beginning. I made some good choices and some bad ones but I had a few people to help along the way. The most important thing I learned is how to deal with some awkward personalities in the music business. All the experience with Church Street has helped me alot with running Council House but running a label back then as compared to now it's a completely different game. Especially with digital downloads and social networking. Looking back I can't believe how much things have changed!"

I've read you're more of a producer than a DJ, but surely the crowd interaction makes it worth it?

"Over the years I have played some really great gigs in several different countries and I have really enjoyed for the most part. To be honest I have never been much for the limelight or big crowds. I knew early on in the game my focus would be more on making the music rather than playing it. I love working away on my own, locked up in the studio. Some people may consider me an introvert I suppose. But if there is the right gig in the right place at the right time I am more than happy to oblige."

It's been a turbulent time for the industry as a whole of late - what's the secret of survival?

"I think alot of it is experimenting and trying different approaches in both the music and promotion to see what works best. There is no exact formula to success these days. First you really have to believe in what you're doing, then you have to find the most effective and genuine ways of getting peoples' interest. Personal interaction works much better than spamming people to death. Try to set yourself apart a wee bit from the others. We have a new limited edition vinyl release coming out that has really gained a lot of attention to the label as a whole."What does 2011 hold in store for Council House followers?"Lots of new projects with an array of different artists on board. Some on limited edition vinyl projects as well. We have got DJ Spun(Rong music NYC) on remix duty for our next release. We have releases lined up with Detroit Techno guru Shawn Rudimen and Acid House legend Affie Yusuf. We are also getting together and working with a couple electro pop groups doing special projects and remixes - Details to be announced soon!"

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Like you, I'm still a little fuzzy but fear not those busy little musicians have been hard at it already this year, meaning there's plenty of look out for already. And rest assured there's loads to come from the blog this year too! I hope you've all been enjoying my Best of 2010 mixes, I've got another one ready and will post it soon, and UM67 is shaping up nicely for early next week.

So here's to 2011 and all the music, interviews, new features and profiles yet to come, but right now let's get down to business and check out what's caught my attention so far this year...